Slop Face: Why Does Everyone Suddenly Look the Same?

Jackie (00:00):
Eleven in Stranger Things, the newest season, they're like, she has so much work done to her face that it's changing the way that we're perceiving her acting.

Dr. Chang (00:09):
Really? You are listening to Secret Services where we discuss the procedures nobody admits to, but everyone's curious about. I'm your host, Dr. Christopher Chang.

Jackie (00:23):
All right. Hi, welcome back. I'm Jackie.

Dr. Chang (00:26):
I'm Dr. Chang. Nice to see you. Okay, Jackie, so what are we going to talk about? Hollywood celebrities now, of course.

Jackie (00:34):
Oh, obviously. So we're going to talk about what they're calling slop face. So there's a reason you keep thinking you've already seen an actor before. It isn't your memory. Somewhere between the filler, the filters, casting call, and the entire industry converged on a single face and the trade press finally gave the thing a name. Stay with us. So that's slop face. So when someone comes in and they're asking to look like a specific celebrity, what are you actually hearing underneath that request?

Dr. Chang (01:04):
Celebrities have the benefit of being glamorous all the time. Great photography, media shoots, incredible lighting, makeup, hair, all that sort of stuff. And so people see them and they put them on a pedestal that this is what beauty should look like. I think that's very difficult to hold normal people or even the celebrity themselves, the movie star or the musician or whatever it is to that standard because they don't look like that all the time either.

Jackie (01:30):
Well, it's so crazy too. Also with Instagram, I feel like even these influencers, so not even real big celebrities, it's like even just to post something so dumb and stupid, like a little real for a minute, they're getting professional hair and makeup done for everything. So it's like nobody looks like this.

Dr. Chang (01:50):
Yeah, they look wonderful, but it's sort of like when we have the professional headshots for the office, everybody looks great, but you don't have that the whole day, every day.

Jackie (02:01):
And I think that people have this unrealistic thing where it's like, you probably could look similar to this if you just had professional hair and makeup done. It's not even necessarily that you need to have surgery. It's just they have really good makeup on right now. Really good contour on that nose.

Dr. Chang (02:18):
Oh, it's so funny. I got in so much trouble for showing my wife this post, but there was a lady online who had put a post up about why she was getting makeup and hair done before going to the gym. She's saying, "All these people are hating on me and there's a huge movement to go natural with no makeup out. And why are you going to go to the gym and all this hair and makeup and look so well done?" And she was like, "I am going to control how other people are going to see me." And people see an attractive person or somebody who's done up and put together, they give that person a little bit more deference, a little bit more respect, more attractive people.

Jackie (02:57):
And treated a little nicer.

Dr. Chang (02:58):
Treated a little nicer. Exactly. So that was her philosophy, but it's not real. I mean, it takes a lot of effort. She's a normal person just putting a lot of effort into that.

Jackie (03:07):
Yeah. And I see it from both sides because I mean, it is true. People are a little nicer. You're going to get the door held open for you if you look a little better than if you just roll it out of bed. I mean, that's just a fact. But it's also, so I don't wear makeup to the gym, but a lot of people do. And women ourselves, we also kind of create this problem because it's like, I didn't feel inadequate about myself until I show up and everyone else is in makeup. And then it's like, well, I look significantly worse. I don't necessarily look bad, but when everyone else is done up and you're the only one who's not. But it's like we as women also are creating this issue. If we all just agreed, hey, we're all going to the gym to sweat. Why do we need to wear makeup? Then we all would feel fine.

Dr. Chang (03:53):
Right. I mean, do you feel, I don't want to say better about yourself, but do you feel good when you're glammed up? I mean, does that feel like -

Jackie (03:59):
Well, 100%. Yeah. And I'm definitely one of those good. I'm one of those look good, feel good people. If I'm feeling down or just not myself or I'm really tired, I'm more inclined to put makeup on because I'm like, all right, if I make myself look presentable, I'll start to feel better. So it definitely makes me feel better. The gym is kind of where I draw the line though because I'm like, I want to sweat and then sweating with your makeup on, I'm just going to cause claw pores and mess my skin up. So for me, I'm like, all right, I'm not going to do it there. But yeah, going out or even coming to work, if I didn't sleep well, I'll put a little extra makeup on because I'll be like, it'll just help me feel better.

Dr. Chang (04:43):
Yeah. I think that sometimes people will. It's totally cultural. Sometimes it would be a big thing to get dressed up and to kind of put your makeup on or get your hair done and things like that. I think I had a friend who went to college in the South, and I remember her telling me there was very culture shock that you don't go out unless you have a full face of makeup or you're well done and really prim and proper and presentable. It's a big thing.

Jackie (05:08):
I have a funny story. So going to brunch in DC, it's like an event. You get a new outfit, hair, makeup, to the nines. We all go out, we take pictures. It's a thing. It's an event. And a few years ago I was in Denver with my best friends. We were visiting her cousin and I walked into her room in my outfit and she was like, "What are you wearing?" I was like, "Well, we're going to brunch." And she was like, "No, people here do not do that."

Dr. Chang (05:39):
She wants you to crunchy overalls or something?

Jackie (05:42):
Right. So I switched into leggings and a t-shirt and I didn't do my hair or anything, but I was like, "This is very enjoyable, but no one -

Dr. Chang (05:50):
You were like, this is not wearing underwear. It's like relax."

Jackie (05:53):
You go out and no one's dressed up. No one has their hair and makeup done. So you don't feel like, oh, I'm frumpy. But I feel like if I showed up to a DC brunch that way, I would be looked at.

Dr. Chang (06:06):
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, interesting.

Jackie (06:07):
So it's regional for sure as well.

Dr. Chang (06:09):
I wouldn't have thought DC was a sort of glam up brunch kind of thing, but -

Jackie (06:13):
Brunch is a big deal in DC.

Dr. Chang (06:14):
I mean, I know in New York it's kind of similar. It's a thing. You're going to go to a nice brunch restaurant, probably you don't have a lot of time with the ladies or whatever. That'd be nice.

Jackie (06:24):
Yeah. I'm about to buy a $25 espresso martini. You got to dress the part.

Dr. Chang (06:30):
Okay. That's true.

Jackie (06:31):
All right. So this is its classified segment. So I brought five photos to my consult and the surgeon pointed out that all five women had the same nose. I hadn't noticed. Now I can't unsee it. I don't know whether I actually want this nose or whether I've just been looking at it for 10 years straight. How does anyone tell the difference?

Dr. Chang (06:49):
Yeah. So I think that this is kind of getting to the concept of all the beauty standards morphing a little bit that we were talking about before. And I think that when we see a beautiful person, we kind of hone in on what we like. And there are some subtle trends people may like, like with makeup or any other things like threading or brows, the '90s brows think were thin and now the brows are full or hairstyles and things like that. But anatomical features like your nose, your jawline, some of those features that we associate with strength or femininity or masculinity are consistent.

(07:29):
I think there are certain Western ideals of beauty and Eastern ideals of beauty. And sometimes now that everybody's sort of exposed to celebrity from all around the world, it kind of is merging, but there's definitely styles. And then so people think about what are the features that make a strong jawline, broad shoulders, whatever, full bust line and small waist and round hips. So I think that some anatomical features are viewed as attractive and that can be from biological or anthropological basis. When I think about, for instance, a nose, I'm really into rhinoplasty surgery. There is a lot about making a natural nose and we can make the shapes and adjust the bones, cartilage and things like that to make lots of different aesthetic outcomes. But ideally we would love to make certain proportions. The length be a certain proportion compared to the projection, the tip rotation to be certain projection in comparison to where the lip posture is.

Jackie (08:38):
Right. And that's the thing when you're just cherry-picking, I love this nose, I love this person's lips. It's still going to look different on your face. So it's definitely the proportions, like you mentioned. It's not just, oh, I want this girl's nose, so put it on me and then I'm going to look like her magically.

Dr. Chang (08:58):
Yeah. I'll often talk to patients about, for instance, not only the nose, but where does the forehead sit? Or what's the angle and the slope of the brow? Or how does it fit in with your lip and your chin and jawline? What are the things? Yes, in isolation, if you cut and paste this nose, that's a cute nose, but is that going to work with your anatomy and does it look right?

Jackie (09:19):
Right. So then the Hollywood Reporters 2026 aesthetics issue put a name to a complaint casting directors have made for years. Performers increasingly look alike. The piece blames casting incentives, converging cosmetic trends and social media. The same issue reports a filler backlash with actors publicly dissolving injections even as filler volumes are climbing. I also, I saw something online and it was like, bring back the teeth of the '90s. And it was crazy. They were showing all these actors and how so many of them had imperfect teeth. And now so many people have veneers. So many people have veneers. Influencers, people that I didn't even realize, they'll start talking about their veneers. And I feel like that's a huge thing that I've been seeing a lot of people getting veneers lately. And it was really interesting to see all these clips from '90s movies of people with normal mouths and you're just like, wow, people looked a lot more normal or just different.

(10:19):
And I think that is definitely something we're lacking is just people to have one little different thing about them or their little quirks or whatever.

Dr. Chang (10:28):
Right. I guess on the one hand you might say, oh, they would look really great if they had something done to their teeth. I don't remember ever saying that really.

Jackie (10:37):
Right. I don't remember remembering people being like, oh, they had horrible teeth.

Dr. Chang (10:40):
She's a beautiful movie star except for her teeth. I don't really remember ever saying that.

Jackie (10:44):
No.

Dr. Chang (10:45):
But I'm sure there's are, as you said, it is more popular.

Jackie (10:48):
Right. And like I said, it was something I hadn't even noticed. And then you're like, oh wow. Yeah, they did maybe need Invisalign or something. And I also was reading, so I recently watched Obsession, that horror movie. So it's about this guy, he makes a wish at this stupid thing that he gets at a store and it basically comes true. And he wishes that this girl that he has a crush on falls in love with her. But the actress that falls in love with him because of the wish, she does a really excellent job. And I was reading a lot of stuff online that people were showing her face and her facial movements and being like, she did such a good job at this role because she could move her brows around a lot. She just could show so much emotion. And they were saying so many people now have so much Botox in their face that it inhibits their acting abilities.

(11:41):
So this girl showed such good range because she had facial movement. And I think it's different for actors versus models. You know what I mean? Models, you want to look as good as you can. But I feel like with these actors, yeah, if they're getting all these cosmetic things done, they can't really show the individuality that you're looking for in an acting role.

Dr. Chang (12:03):
Yeah, that's pretty interesting. I wonder if the person writing that commentary or article was really trying to make a point, or maybe that was a very emotive person. If you look at an actor like Jack Black or Jack Nicholson, they both were very expressive with their eyebrows and would move their upper face a lot. I mean, I just recognize those actors as people that use that part of their face a lot in their trade, essentially. I don't think of, I don't know, Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt particularly as a very expressive, like that's their signature thing. Whereas Jack Black, his face is so dynamic. So I think that some of it just depends on the actor and their style a little bit to me.

Jackie (12:49):
But women, I feel like there was also a lot of commentary about Eleven in Stranger Things, the newest season. They're like, she has so much work done to her face that it's changing the way that we're perceiving her acting.

Dr. Chang (13:03):
Really? That's interesting. So I was late to the game. I watched The Little Stranger Things years later. It's Millie Bobby Brown, right? She's actress. But she started out as a kid and she's also a little bit like this lab kid. So she's not supposed to be that emotive, I think.

Jackie (13:20):
But then I think she also had a lot of lip filler and they were just like, it looks so silly that it doesn't seem to fit the plot.

Dr. Chang (13:28):
I didn't think I noticed that at all, but that's interesting that that was -

Jackie (13:32):
I hadn't really thought about it, but then when you do, that you're like, "Okay, I do see in real life, this character wouldn't be -

Dr. Chang (13:41):
So plumped up.

Jackie (13:42):
So voluptuous with her lips.

Dr. Chang (13:44):
I think that cast situation was sort of like child actors that they're going to grow up with for, I don't know, however many years, 10 years or something to sort of develop their childhood as well as their career of this character, recurrent character. So that's kind of a different thing. But I don't know. I think that now, especially with fillers, especially young actors, young Hollywood people sort of dissolving, it is all trend. Everybody kind of follows the trend. So there was a big dissolving movement just a couple years ago. Now it's kind of coming back and normalizing kind of a more stable study of, oh, we'll try a little bit of this, a little bit of that, but don't get too crazy. The pendulum swings so much with these aesthetic treatments sometimes.

Jackie (14:23):
I also think media has changed. I feel like there's so much reality TV now and a lot of the people on these reality television shows are all influencers, people that are just taking pictures of themselves. So I feel like we're just exposed to more people that are getting work done because they're just in the limelight more. Whereas just normal actors doing sitcoms.

Dr. Chang (14:45):
I do think it's good. I think that people, it's demystified it, but then you also have to have guidance where you're like, okay, yeah, I'll try this. This could be good or whatever. But you can't go crazy doing stuff that's outrageous amounts or outrageous frequency that's going to start distorting you. And that's why we're seeing some of the trends coming back to normal sort of things settling. But I think that's also why it all converges. The aesthetic goal is kind of like everybody starts seeing the same thing. They start asking for the same thing. And that's just part of the media culture that we're in, social trending. Anyway, if you want the latest in guidance of sort of things that are the latest and greatest, but we're kind of following those trends, you can come always see us. Leave us a comment about what your questions might be in terms of things that you might be interested in. And we'll be here while we answer your questions on the next episode.

Jackie (15:37):
All right, thank you.

Dr. Chang (15:38):
Thanks for joining. Thanks for listening to Secret Services, the podcast where we see everything and say nothing except right here. I'm Dr. Christopher Chang, double board certified plastic surgeon located in Tysons, Virginia. Follow us on TikTok @congressionalpsurgery or on Instagram @congressionalplasticsurgery. To send us a classified message or to hear more episodes, go to secretservicespodcast.com. Links to everything we talked about on today's show are available in the show notes. Oops, patient's here. We got to go.